


We Make Life a Party Game

by Pokedash55, Purplefern



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: But it's there, Christine Canigula Has ADHD, Christine is precious, Everyone is precious, Fluff, Friendship, Gamers, Gen, Get it?, Ha!, I can't write Rich's lisp, Mario Kart, Micheal Mell has skillz, Post-Canon, T only for swears, You know what?, but it can't shock Jeremy or control him anymore, co-written with my sister, even the Squip, jake is precious, just didn't feel like writing Jenna for some reason, not important really, so it mostly just chills, the Squip is still here, the ship isn't really important
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:54:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23616304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pokedash55/pseuds/Pokedash55, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purplefern/pseuds/Purplefern
Summary: An intense game of Mario Kart threatens the Squip Squad. Will their friendship survive the chaos? (Of course it will, but a little help couldn’t hurt. A little help, in the form of a shared negative opinion.)
Relationships: Christine Canigula/Jeremy Heere, Squip Squad Members & Squip Squad Members (Be More Chill)
Kudos: 23





	We Make Life a Party Game

**Author's Note:**

> Once again co-written with my sister! 
> 
> Not necessarily important to the story, but fun to note:  
> Everyone’s racer of choice in Mario Kart
> 
> Micheal: Mario  
> Jeremy: Luigi  
> Rich: Waluigi  
> Jake: Wario  
> Brooke: Peach  
> Cloe: Daisy  
> Christine: Funky Kong  
> Sir-not-appearing-in-this-story-jenna: Toadette  
> Squip: Bowser

“A red shell, WHY?!” exclaimed Jeremy, “Who threw that?!” 

“No clue.” Giggled an obviously guilty Michael taking the lead. 

The Squip Squad had gathered in Micheal’s basement, plugging in his old Wii and playing the party games he had stored away in a shoe box. So far the night had been going well (barring Christine almost clocking Jeremy with a Wii remote when they played Wii Sports Bowling), at least until they got to the infamous “destroyer of friendships”: Mario Kart. 

Christine excitedly leaned against the medium sized couch where Rich, Chloe, Jake, and Brooke sat clumped together, resigned to watching when she had been banned after the “bowling incident”. She hopped up and down as the race intensified, gleefully cheering for Jeremy who was catching up to the reigning champ Micheal. 

“Hey! I could use some support too, you know!” complained Jake, audibly hoping for an item that didn’t completely suck, and struggling from 10th place. 

“Guyths. Shhhhh! I’m in the zone!” Rich shushed determinedly, passing Jeremy for 2nd place. 

“Pshh, Like you could beat Micheal. He’s leagues ahead of all of you!” Chloe chipped in mockingly, anxiously waiting for her turn to play. 

The races continued on playfully, as alliances were betrayed, shells were thrown, and the uproar grew and grew. The Squip watched passively from where it “stood” behind Jeremy’s beanbag, satisfied at its success of Jeremy’s acclimation into his larger friend group. 

At the end of the course, Rich and Jake handed their controllers over to the waiting girls, and they started a new race. 

“Chloeeeee how could you?!” despaired Brooke as she took a direct hit from Bob-omb thrown by her best friend. 

“It’s every person for themself in Mario Kart. You should know that” snarked Chloe as she passed her friend, focusing intensely on the race (even though she was still losing horribly). 

“SHIT! Another Shell?? From who??!” Jeremy screamed as he fell off a ramp into the abyss, putting him behind even Chloe. 

“I’m sorry once again my sweet Jer! But anything goes in The art of the Kart!” responded Micheal as he drove ahead, steadily in third (trailing behind a baby peach and a Bowser CPU). 

“Yes!” cried Micheal as he passed the two racers to win once again. 

“C’mon!” groaned basically everyone except for Jeremy. 

“Micheal always wins!” complained Chloe loudly, “My controller is broken, this is so not fair!” 

“That controller is _not_ broken, Clo” corrected Micheal, setting up the next round of races, “You’re just jealous that I have skillz”. 

“Yeah, right, Mell” 

The next round, everyone glared at the TV and each other, tensions rising, and the commentary becoming a lot less teasing and a lot more serious. Jeremy and Brooke both looked around the room nervously, as the insults started to fly, getting worse and worse as the races got ever more competitive. 

Pausing the game a moment, Brooke passed her controller over to Rich with an uneasy smile, excusing herself. 

“I’m getting hungry. Hey, Christine, let’s go get some snacks from upstairs” (Micheal had said at the beginning of the night that he had snacks ready in the kitchen if anyone wanted them). 

Things only got worse from there. Adding _another_ competitive person into the mix led to even more flared tempers and accusations of cheating or of broken equipment (*cough* Chloe *cough*) and Jeremy was getting uncomfortable at all of the pressure. 

As Rich and Jake started to criticize Micheal for winning once again (Jake wasn’t playing, but felt offended on behalf of his best friend), Jeremy tried to placate all of his fighting friends, smiling weakly and gesturing for everyone to calm down, “C-c’mon guys. This is just a dumb game. Maybe we should, I-I dunno, play something else?” 

“No way!”

“Not a chance!” 

Protested Rich and Jake simultaneously.

“We aren’t quitting until at least one of us beat Micheal” argued Jake determinedly. 

“Alright” resigned Jeremy

The Squip, meanwhile, was getting seriously unamused the more that the group of teens argued and tore at each other. Just seconds ago, everyone had been getting along fine, and now they were at each other’s throats. How quickly human allegiances changed (it knew this, of course. Shifting alliances and backstabbing was a part of being popular, and the knowledge of that was programmed into it.) Still, the situation was turning far from advantageous, and Jeremy’s stress levels were rapidly rising. It paid close attention to the gaming teens, gathering data that may be necessary if it decided to intervene. 

  
  


But by the next race, Jeremy’s fragile attempts to keep everyone from blowing up fell apart. 

“You think you’re better than us, Heere?!” raged Rich as Jeremy crossed the finish line in first, “Just because your creep friend lets you win? You’re still a loser!” 

The Squip’s eyes narrowed at the harsh comment, feeling partially attacked as well. That was enough. It had worked too hard to get Jeremy these friends, its progress would not be lost from MARIO KART, dammit. Tired of how all of this nonsensical confrontation was tearing its (definitely) carefully orchestrated group apart, the Squip linked to the game, taking over an NPC and putting itself into the race. Looking over the options, it couldn’t help but smirk to itself as it set up control of a Bowser NPC. A villain racer would be helpful for its plan, for aesthetics if nothing else. 

The raging argument dropped and everyone simultaneously fell silent as they were suddenly all struck by lightning, a random Bowser shooting ahead and winning the race as their arguing had been escalating. 

“The hell?” asked Chloe and the room echoed her sentiments. 

“How did a NPC win?!” shouted Jeremy, “We’re playing on 50cc!” 

“Obviously you guys have been playing too long. Give the controllers to someone else for a change” insisted Jake, looking intent on jumping back into battle. 

Before either Jeremy or Micheal could respond, the door at the top of the stairs slammed open with a kick. 

“GAMER FUEL!” cried Christine as she threw packs of chips onto the couch (and the people sitting on it). 

“How’s the game going?” asked Brooke as she more calmly set a six pack of age appropriate juice down onto a side table. 

“The ‘Insanely cool Micheal Mell’ just lost to a 50cc NPC” mocked Jake, reaching for the controller from the aforementioned player. Micheal tore it away and glared at the TV, still showing the victory scene for the Bowser. 

From his beanbag, Jeremy sighed in defeat, unstrapping the controller from his wrist. Accepting his shame at losing to a NPC, he reached over the couch to relinquish his controller to Brooke. Micheal reluctantly followed, accepting his shame and passing his controller over to an eagerly-waiting Jake. 

So now Jake, Rich, Chloe, and Brooke had a chance to actually win, now that Micheal was eliminated, and they played hard. Before they could get too competitive with each other, they were all beat once again by seemingly the same Bowser CPU. 

“What the heck!? That damn Bowsther won again!?” ranted Rich.

They played again, and Rich almost came away with a win until the Bowser threw a green shell and managed to steal his victory. 

“AH! OOOOOhhhh!” cried Christine at the surprise upset, throwing her arms in the air with enough force to scatter cheetos all over the floor behind the couch.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” whined Chloe as Rich slouched, stunned, “Who **👏** lands **👏** a green **👏** shell **👏**?!” she complained. 

“Alright, one more time” encouraged Jake (who hadn’t even gotten close to winning yet, but believed in Rich’s ability for a win), “It’s gonna slip up eventually. I mean, it’s a computer”. 

They all nodded, agreeing with this logic, and settled determinedly into the couch, their gazes focused collectively on the game at hand. 

From its post behind Jeremy, the Squip grinned, as it began another race, giving Jake a side-eyed glare (not that the youth could see it) for the “computer” comment. It made sure to target him with its next red shell acquisition. (Yes, it was petty, especially for a supercomputer, but if it brought the humans closer together, it could stand being a little petty.)

Giving Rich the appearance of victory this round, it observed as all the teens banded together, gathering around their short friend and cheering him on. 

“Rich! You’re doing it!”

“You got this!” 

“Beat that CPU!” 

“Kick its programmed butt!”yelled Christine as she shook Jeremy’s shoulders aggressively, her eyes fixed on the race.

Everyone was on the same page, completing part one of its goals. But, as it considered Christine and her commentary, it decided to accomplish a bit more while it was here. At the last second, it used a blue shell at Rich, got a mushroom boost, and shot ahead to the finish line. 

The room collectively fell silent, and then groaned. 

“I thought Bowsers were slooooowwwwwwwwww” complained Brooke, defeatedly, throwing her controller to the side. 

“Alright guys” pep talked Jake, fist pumping, controller in hand after their third loss in a row, “We need to amp up our game plan. Let’s switch the teams again. ONE of us is bound to beat ‘em eventually right?” 

Everyone stared at him in obvious agreement as Jake continued his motivational speech.

“This isn’t about who wins anymore” he said seriously as he almost ceremoniously handed his controller back to Micheal, “It’s just about that damn CPU NOT winning” 

“Ugh Feiineee. Here Heere. Take it” Chloe pouted as she threw the remote down to Jeremy’s spot on the beanbag, “It’s the broken one anyway.”

“Is not” helpfully chimed Micheal with a wink as he took his own controller back into his hand, and selected Mario. 

Chloe glared at him, and huffed, turning her attention to her phone. She was going to rant to Jenna about everything: The stupid broken controller, the stupid broken CPU, and how she _was_ _too_ good at Mario Kart.

The new team up didn’t fare much better, and suffered more losses. 

The Squip allowed itself a smirk as they all scrambled to figure out what was going on, waiting for things to unfold the way it had planned for the best outcome (for Jeremy). By its calculations, that should be happening right after this round. There was no way that Brooke would want to continue playing. Everything was working out exactly as it anticipated. 

“Guys, I really don’t want to play anymore” sighed Brooke, leaning tiredly into the couch. (The Squip smiled to itself, thinking, _right on time Ms Lohst_.) 

“Nooo, Broooke, you can’t. We still have to beat the computer!” pleaded Chloe, setting her phone down on her lap. 

“Yeah you can’t wimp out now. There’s no way Chloe’s joining in after her last defeat.” Rich said, jabbing a thumb at Chloe from across the sofa. She returned the comment with a glare, flipped him the bird, and went back to her text conversation with Jenna. 

“Just play with three players, then” suggested Brooke, getting up to get herself a drink and leaving the controller behind. 

“We stand a better chance if four of us race, though” stated Jeremy. 

“Wait. There’s still one person who hasn’t played” observed Micheal, and the room turned to stare at Christine fearfully as she smiled manically, fire in her eyes. 

“Oh lawdy” commented Chloe, looking up from her phone to see Christine jump on the controller, and plop onto the floor between the two beanbags, grinning intensely as she selected her main boy Funky Kong. 

The Squip watched its plan come to full fruition, as they stopped arguing with each other, and started yelling against the “mystery” CPU, with Jeremy and Christine finally on the same team. Jake,Chloe, and Brooke cheered encouragingly as the main team fought their hardest against the unbeatable Bowser on the battlefield. Every item was used on the Bowser, every turn taken with utmost precision, every ramp jumped timed exactly. Christine took to the game passionately, exaggeratedly using the motion controls to the utmost, and hitting every ramp at just the right time. And, for what it was worth, the Squip was not simply allowing her this victory. She just truly had skills. 

By the last lap, Christine finally made it to second place, tailing the Bowser through every turn, and everyone was more excited than ever. 

“GO CHRISTINE!” whooped Jake, practically standing up from his place on the couch. 

“If anyone can make it, it’s you!” encouraged Michael from 4th place as he laid halfway on the floor and halfway on his beanbag. 

“For humanity!” cried Rich, throwing a green shell at the CPU from his spot in 5th place and missing horribly. 

“Yeah! No stupid NPC should be able to beat us like this” half complained half encouraged Chloe, looking up from where she had been angrily texting. 

Jeremy was less confident, and was getting discouraged by all of the losses they had gone through (plus he might have been just a little bit upset that his girlfriend was apparently better at Mario Kart than he was, which was an added low blow to the evening. Like, video games were practically his only thing, and he was straggling behind as the last place human player). Feeling desperate, Jeremy finally considered to turn around and beg the supercomputer in his head for some advice on how to, if not win, at least not embarrass himself in front of Christine. 

He nearly dropped his controller in shock as he turned his head around, only to see his Squip, his _chill controlling calculating supercomputer_ , focusing intently on the screen, and holding what looked like a holographic version of a Wii remote. 

Obviously the Squip felt his shock at the image, and briefly made eye contact with Jeremy, causing him to lose focus and completely ruin his turn. 

“You might want to pay attention, Jeremy” tsked the Squip cooly, giving Jeremy a cheeky grin, “Wouldn’t want to fail your team”

“You--” Jeremy started to say out loud, before switching over, **_YOU’RE the CPU that keeps kicking our asses?!_ **

The Squip didn’t outwardly respond, but kept its smug grin as it theatrically pressed a button on its fake controller, and the Bowser on screen threw a red shell at Micheal’s racer who had been edging into third place. 

Jeremy was going to harp on this more, but was distracted when someone shouted at him, “Heere! You got a blue shell!” 

**_We’re talking about this later_ **, he shot at the Squip, before turning his attention back to the game. He did, in fact, have the legendary blue shell. That evener of odds and distressor of champions. 

“Jeremy, throw it! Avenge me!” cried Micheal, theatrically throwing his hand over his face, and really only half-playing at this point, since with the red shell he had sunk to 6th place. 

“Christine’s right next to the finish line” pointed out Jake, “If you threw it now she would win!”

“Throw the shell, dammit!” shouted Chloe. 

“Oh. R-right!” he stammered, now getting fully back invested in the game. Turning momentarily to glare at the Squip, he echoed its earlier boast and theatrically pressed the button to launch the blue shell. 

The entire room erupted into loud cheers, as the Squip went down right before the finish line, Christine shooting to the front. Jack and Rich whooped excitedly, both shooting up to trade high-fives, and Micheal threw his hands up in victory from where he lay on the floor. Christine herself was cheering enthusiastically, and had shot up to do the cringiest victory dance imaginable. Jeremy couldn’t stop the blush that crept up his face as he watched her celebrate. She managed to make things that would look stupid from any other person so unbelievably cute. His blush only deepened when she suddenly threw her arms around him and gave him a kiss. “My hero!” she gushed. 

From where it was watching behind Jeremy’s beanbag, the Squip nodded to itself, its phantom controller disappearing. The balance of the friend group had been restored, it had orchestrated a moment between Jeremy and Christine, and it didn’t have to deal with arguing children or anyone yelling at Jeremy anymore. All in all, it was a successful night for the supercomputer. It noticed immediately as Jeremy’s attention turned from Christine to itself, and swiftly met his annoyed glare with a cool smirk. 

**_Right, so, what the hell was that?_ ** asked Jeremy sharply, moving to sit on the couch as everyone else drifted off to eat some victory snacks. 

“What the hell was what?” questioned the supercomputer with a mock innocence, “You’ll have to be more specific than that, Jeremy”. 

Resisting the desire to dramatically flail his arms around (most of the group knew about the Squip being back, but it wasn’t exactly something he wanted to actively remind them of) Jeremy “shouted” angrily, **_That whole thing with the Mario Kart? That just happened?_ **

**_Seriously, since when did you of all people like Mario Kart!?!? YOU HATE VIDEO GAMES!??! Especially ‘kid games’ like this!_ **

The Squip shrugged nonchalantly. “A shared negative opinion is the fastest way to build a social bond” it quipped. Jeremy subtly glared in its general direction, letting it know that he didn’t find its little motto cute. It clarified, sounding exasperated and annoyed, “You were all arguing, and I decided to put a stop to it. It would be silly for this carefully crafted group to fall apart from something as inane and childish as a video game, so I gave you all an enemy to fight together” 

Jeremy considered that, and conceded the point. At least until he reflected on the night and realized that even after everyone had stopped fighting, the CPU had kept winning. With a sneaking suspicion, he asked the computer, **_And that’s the only reason? I just_ ** **_happened_ ** **_to get a blue shell that just_ ** **_happened_ ** **_to let Christine win?_ **

“You are more perceptive than usual tonight, Jeremy” said the Squip approvingly, and he wasn’t sure whether to be flattered or offended (no wait, yes he did. Offended. Definitely offended), “Yes. That was a factor as well. But, so what if I allowed you to become a hero at Mario Kart and impress Christine? It’s only a game, Jeremy **.** And, anyway, your friends certainly don’t seem to mind”. 

True to its word, the Squad was currently celebrating their victory, clinking sodas and congratulating Christine on her triumph. Any sign of their previous misgivings were gone, and no one was arguing anymore. Instead everyone was excitedly discussing the eventful night, telling dramatic versions of the different races, or occasionally slinging trash talk at the now-defeated CPU. Christine caught his glance from the couch and waved cheerily, and he awkwardly waved back, helpless against the smile that was forming despite the fact that he wanted to stay mad at his stupid SQUIP. He was going to turn around and give the computer one last piece of his mind, but it had retracted its physical form, leaving him staring at empty air. 

_Now, stop talking to me and go talk with your friends. No sense in ruining a fun night arguing with me, especially when you know that I’m right_. 

**_Asshole_** he tossed out,with no better rebuttal ready at the moment, but he had to agree. Meddling in Mario Kart was the least severe of anything this tictac had done, and it was (unfortunately) right; there was no point getting so mad about it and ruining the night. Sighing at allowing the Squip to win the argument, he got up from the couch and went back to join the rest of the Squad. 

The group immediately pulled around him, cheering him for his assist, Jake and Micheal holding up his hands in victory. Everyone was calm with each other again, and now they were just a group of friends having a good night. 

**_A “shared negative opinion” huh?_ ** Questioned Jeremy, smiling and admittedly significantly happier now that no one was fighting anymore, **_Is that just your answer for everything or what?_ **

Even though it was no longer visible, Jeremy could still feel the computer smirk. 

  
_It’ll stop being my answer when it stops working on you humans_.

**Author's Note:**

> Some hopefully fun fluff just in time for Easter! Hope you enjoyed, leave kudos, comments, etc. Thanks for reading!


End file.
